PROPOSAL FOR INTRODUCTION OF A WIRELESS NURSE CALL SOLUTION
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
The nurses work environment is continually receiving more work that results from an increase in the number of diseases and the shorter stay in the hospital facility. The nurse to patient ratio has always shown that the number of patients is more than the nurses can handle comfortably. This hardship is compounded with the dwindling number of nurses (Kelly, 2012). Training a nurse takes time and requires a lot of resources. It is, therefore, important to ensure that the few nurses that are available are retained and treated well by making their work environment the best. Increased workload causes burnout and nurses that are not satisfied with the work they do consequently have the patients bear the brunt. Patient outcomes are grossly affected when nurses are not treated well. Nurses readily leave hospitals where they are dissatisfied. Patients consequently tend to avoid the health care facility because of their dissatisfaction. This affects the entire health care system since the patient outcome is a measure of a health system’s performance. It is therefore important to address this multifaceted issue that reduces the productivity of the healthcare providers and in this case the nurses. We need to reinvent the healthcare system and ensure that it is patient centred and patient and other stakeholders understand the role a nurse plays in the provision of quality health care.
Burnout is physical and emotional drain that reduces the individuals’ performance (Huber, 2006). It is caused by a huge workload and an environment that does not make it any easier. Burnout also leads to a decline in the personal touch towards the recipient to which the service is offered, in this case the patient. It is costly to an institution since it causes absenteeism, a high nurse turnover and a reduction in performance. It is therefore important to ensure that burnout is managed to increase nurse productivity and better patient outcomes.
The purpose of the program is to replace the existing manual way patients use to alert nurses for help and the number of trips the nurses take to the patient’s bedside. The system will provide wireless technology that will enhance communication between the nurse and the patients and to some extent the Doctors. The health care system will consequently provide better patient care and will increase the nurses’ efficiency. The nurses will have no burnout since the system reduces the many number of times a nurse goes to see a patient at their bedside (Dickson, & Flynn, 2008). They will also respond faster to the needs of the patient.
The target population
The target for this program will be the nurses, patients, Doctors and other healthcare providers. Since this is where we intend to facilitate information it therefore becomes our target group. The patients are involved since we want to reduce the time they take waiting for a nurse to attend to them. The nurses are the other target group because we want to make them effective and generally improve the patient outcome to benefit both the nurse and the patient. The doctors can also use the system to the advantage since they can link with the nurses when required to attend to particular patients.
The benefits of the program
The wireless call system will ensure faster nurse responses to the patients needs. Nurses will be efficiently used since there will be no duplication during response times. The system will also ensure a quieter work environment that will be beneficial to the patients and nurses. This is unlike the public address systems or the beeping pagers commonly used in most hospitals set up. They system will also be used to improve communication between nurses and doctors where doctors can be assembled with ease when required to do a particular procedure. Lastly since the calls will be classified or categorized priority can be allocated to more urgent calls, thus avoiding situations where patients suffer (Ziefle, & Rocker2011).
The cost or budget justification
After an extensive survey in the market of the available wireless systems that are efficient and cost effective I established the fairest cost to be USD 10000 that will be required to install, train, roll out and maintain the system in its year of inception (Finkler, & McHugh, 2008). Most of the costs will be used to buy infrastructure, one wireless phone will cost USD 60. Considering the size of our facility I have projected that we will need 100units that will total to USD 6000. The central server computers and backup will cost USD 2000. Installation, training and maintenance will cost USD 2000 for the entire workforce of the facility.
The strengths and weaknesses of the proposal
The strength of the proposal is that it can be evaluated based on the patient outcomes once the system is installed and running. The objectives set to be achieved are achievable. We have a very able ICT section in our hospital that can effectively run the system without additional requirements for employing new staff. The only weakness in this proposal is that it may not have sufficiently addressed all the questions or hypothesis (Garber, Gross, & Slonim, 2010).
Conclusion
In conclusion, you will agree that we all need to make our hospital setup the best. Any effort that makes it the best should be embraced for the benefit the patients and the healthcare providers. The proposal for the introduction of a wireless nurse call solution will ensure faster nurse responses to the patients needs; it will also reduce duplication during response times. The hospital system will be quiet since public address systems will be a thing of the past and this will help both the nurses and the patient. I hope that the board sees the advantages of having this system installed in our facility. In line with our mission and vision we aim to offer quality healthcare services to our patients. The system will help us work towards achieving this. We have the personnel to run it and the benefits to the nurses and patients outcomes are enormous.
REFERENCE
- Clark, C. C. (2009). Creative nursing leadership & management. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
- Dickson, G. L., & Flynn, L. (2008). Nursing policy research: Turning evidence-based research into health policy. New York: Springer Pub. Co.
- Finkler, S. A., & McHugh, M. L. (2008). Budgeting concepts for nurse managers. St. Louis, Mo: Saunders/Elsevier.
- Garber, J. S., Gross, M., & Slonim, A. D. (2010). Avoiding common nursing errors. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
- Hoyt, R. E., Sutton, M., & Yoshihashi, A. (2007). Medical informatics: Practical guide for the healthcare professional 2007. Pensacola, FL: School of Allied Health and Life Sciences.
- Huber, D. (2006). Leadership and nursing care management. Philadelphia: Saunders Elsevier.
- Kelly, P. (2012). Nursing leadership & management. Clifton Park, NY: Cengage Learning.
- Ziefle, M., & Rocker, C. (2011). Human-centered design of e-health technologies: Concepts, methods and applications. Hershey PA: Medical Information Science Reference.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FEEDBACK FORM
The RN to BSN program at Grand Canyon University meets the requirements for clinical competencies as defined by CCNE and AACN using non-traditional experiences for practicing nurses. These experiences come in the form of direct and indirect care experiences in which licensed nursing students engage in learning within the context of their hospital organization, their specific care discipline and their local communities.
This activity is intended to foster demonstration of skills related to leadership and management.
Share your written proposal with your manager, supervisor or other colleague in a formal leadership position within a health care organization. Request their feedback using the following questions as prompts:
1. Do you believe the proposal would be approved if formally proposed? Yes.
2. What are some strengths and weaknesses of the proposal?
The strength of the proposal is that it can be evaluated based on the patient outcomes once the system is installed and running. The objectives set to be achieved are achievable. The only weakness in this proposal is that it may not have sufficiently addressed all the questions.
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NOTE:
Acknowledgement form is to be returned to the student for electronic submission to the faculty member via the learning management system (LoudCloud).
